


A Korra a Day Keeps the Pain Away

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [39]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Cute, F/F, Fluff, Korrasami - Freeform, married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 01:56:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11094489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: Korra has to go away for two weeks, but she knows how to keep a lonely Asami happy.





	A Korra a Day Keeps the Pain Away

Korra sat on the bench at the dock, waiting until her boat was about to depart, holding Asami’s hand. Instead of sitting beside her, Asami sat across her lap, nestling Korra’s head into her neck.

Korra stifled a snicker at her wife’s glum mood. “I’m only going to be gone for two weeks, you know. And this is a pretty peaceful Avatar mission.”  

“I could still come.”

“You have all those important shareholder meetings, and the acquisition talks,” Korra reminded her, knowing full well her wife hadn’t forgotten. “You’re just gonna miss me.”

“Of course I am you jerk,” Asami said, rubbing Korra’s shoulder. “Are you gonna miss me too?”

Korra answered her with a kiss.

“Right,” Asami breathed, after. “Stupid question.”

Korra smiled, resting a hand in Asami’s lap. “This is just one of those things I’ve gotta do. But trust me, we’ve got plenty of friends in the city. You won’t be lonely.”

“Don’t you tell me I can be lonely or not,” Asami sulked. “It wouldn’t be so bad if you were going somewhere with telephones…”

Korra nodded, as the porters made the final call to board the ship. With her ear against Asami’s neck, Korra could hear her little whine clear as day.

“You’ll see me soon,” Korra promised, as they disentangled themselves.

Asami gave a nod, looking down, holding Korra’s hands.

“Hey…” Korra said, lifting one hand to tilt Asami’s head up. “I’ll be thinking of you. Every day.” You'll see.

“Every hour?”

“Every second.”

They kissed. Then again, a little harder, as the boat’s horn blasted.

“I love you,” Asami said.

“Love you too,” Korra replied. Then one last, quick kiss, before she grabbed her bag and scampered onto the boat. Korra already couldn't wait to get back... both to see her wife again, and to see her wife's reaction to what Korra had left behind.

 

 

—

 

 

Asami went through the rest of her morning glumly, reading reports, signing papers, answering and returning calls. She was efficient and quiet, and Tenni knew better than to let anybody bother her unduly.

She went to lunch with Bolin and Opal, a welcome distraction, but honestly, she was barely there. She tried to imagine where Korra was, what she might be doing, what she might be seeing or smelling or thinking just then. Ocean waves, no doubt. Maybe a bulkhead—but no, Korra would be on deck if she could.

She returned to her office with a heavy sigh, and found a box sitting on her desk, topped with a big, glittery bow.

Asami pursed her lips. “Tenni, who’s this from?”

“Hmm?” Tenni replied innocently, as if a package magically made its way into Asami’s office without her assistant knowing every detail about it.

That answered the question. Asami rolled her eyes, and regarded the box with a raised eyebrow. Finally, she pulled off the bow, and grinned, just a little, when she saw what was inside.

It was a Korra doll, about as tall as Asami’s hand, wearing a little dress exactly like Korra had worn at the party Tarrlok had thrown for her, all those years ago. The first time they had met. The doll’s hair was done up in the same little bun in the back, and its arms were crossed, a skeptical eyebrow raised.

Asami laughed, sitting down, and clutching the doll against her. She sighed again, wistfully, looking out the window.

The rest of the day was not so glum after that.

 

 

—

 

 

The following day, Asami didn’t have to wait until after lunch. As soon as she got to work, there was another box, sitting on her chair. She yanked it open at once, and there was Korra again. This time, in her Future Industries Fire Ferrets uniform, tiny leather helmet and all. Little blue pipe cleaners were wrapped around her hands, and a moment later Asami laughed and realized it was supposed to be waterbending.

The box rattled a bit as Asami set it down. What had she missed? She reached in, and out came a little trophy.

“Totally Official Championship Winners,” Asami read aloud, chuckling. She wrapped the doll’s arm around the trophy, then set it across the desk from her, beside the first doll. Little glances at them, through the day, made the end come that much sooner.

 

 

—

 

 

Asami was in her office for a full hour on the third day before she opened her drawer for a file and was half-startled to find a box shoved into it. She laughed, set the box on her lap, and tore into it. What Korra would this be?

This Korra was in her Water Tribe blues, but her wolf tails were pressed flat beneath a helmet and goggles. Asami smiled, remembering that day at the race track, Korra’s huge, sideways grin—much like the one painted on the doll—and her excited, stifled shouts. She’d given her all to impress her—well, and to win the race. Korra or no, Asami didn’t like to be shown up. But then, Korra had liked that about her, too.

Asami set this doll with the others, then leaned back in her chair. After a moment, she sat forward again, moving the newest doll to the other side of her desk, so she had one to look at on either side of her.

She set to work, smiling, wondering about what her wonderful wife was up to… and what she had in store for her the next day.

 

 

—

 

 

The next day's doll had taken her some time to find, as it was suspended from the ceiling. Another little Korra, hair up in wolftails, wearing yellow and saffron airbender robes bunched at her shoulders, hanging from a tiny wood-and-paper glider.

“Ms. Sato?” Tenni asked, peeking through the doorway as Asami was reaching from atop her desk. “Do you need a ladder?”

“How’d you… get that up there?” she asked, the airbender Korra barely out of reach.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tenni said, and got back to work, leaving Asami to figure out how to get the doll down.

 

 

—

 

 

Asami went through nearly her entire next work day, curiosity slowly giving way to concern as no boxes turned up. But that was silly—Korra had gone through all this effort before she’d left, she wouldn’t just have stopped suddenly.

Still, it was with relief that she found the box nestled near the pedals of her car as she left work. She set her things on the passenger seat, pulled the box up into her lap, and looked inside.

Unlike the others, this doll was wrapped in newspaper, and a note was attached.  

 

_Wasn’t sure about this one, but I can’t pretend everything was happy, back then. This was a hard time. But this was also when you went from somebody I already liked to somebody I truly admired._

 

_Also figured this might not be the best to open at work where people could see._

 

_Love,_

_Korra_

 

Asami set the note aside, frowning as she unwrapped the doll, then frowning more once she saw it. Korra, again, but dressed as an Equalist, the helmet under her arm, a tired look on her face.

She sighed, and set it back in the box. Korra… certainly had been thorough, hadn’t she? It was years ago, now, and she didn’t regret a single decision she’d made back then. But her father’s betrayal, the alien feeling of her own city when she’d realized how strong Equalist support had been…

Korra had been there for her. With everything else that had been going on, Korra had taken time to make sure Asami was coping. Even then, even as enamored with Mako as Korra had been at the time, she hadn’t let that get in the way of showing Asami she cared.

Korra was right—this had been an important point in their lives, in their story. It had helped shape them both into the people they were today.

All the same, this wasn’t a moment in time she wanted to display on her desk.

The drive home was pensive, but by the time she’d arrived, she’d decided where to put it. In the back corner of her closet, there was a box, a box of mementoes from her childhood, memories of her father. The Equalist glove she’d used to shock him, and fought with until building her own. Newspaper clippings about his trial. Memories she couldn’t bear to part with, but neither did she wish to be reminded of them.

She opened the box, and found another note.

 

_I love you. I love you. You’re strong, and amazing, and so much greater than everything here. I love you._

 

_PS-Your favorite noodle dish is going to be delivered soon_

_PPS-If this seems out of place when you find it, I must’ve guessed wrong during the whole doll thing. I still love you though!_

 

Asami laughed, nearly crushing the note as her fingers tightened around it. She was still fighting back tears, too, as she kissed the Equalist-dressed doll’s hair, and placed it in the box.

 

 

—

 

 

More dolls appeared over the weekend somehow, once on the balcony—meaning Korra had enlisted an airbender in this scheme—and once in the icebox, which Asami couldn’t for the life of her imagine how it had gotten in without her noticing. The latter was all bundled up in furs, from their time in the South Pole, at the start of the Water Tribe civil war.

The work week began, and still more dolls appeared as if by magic. A tiny, pot-bellied child Korra holding a teapot—she’d never seen Korra that way, but it was instantly her favorite.

A loose-haired Korra, a cut down her face, as she’d faced down her uncle, appeared on her office floor after a sudden, unexplained power outage.

The next day, she’d come back from the restroom to find not a hand-sized Korra doll, but a person-sized, all blue one sitting behind her desk. Seriously…

Korra flexing her muscles, surrounded by bits of metal, was nestled among her pens the day after. A little experimentation showed it had magnets in its hands and feet. Asami hung it from her lamp.

The box of reports the day after that held Korra wrapped in a straightjacket, face mask, and chains was startling enough that she wound up with reports scattered all over her floor. Tenni was trying very hard not to laugh. The reports had even been about Cabbage Corp, which was a very nice touch.

It was only a few days left, until Korra got back—another weekend without her. Asami resolved to catch anybody making another sneaky delivery to her, if she could, but at the same time…

          … she remembered what happened next.

The weekend came, and sure enough, once she turned off the lights to go to bed that night, two little glowing eyes shone in the dark of their bedroom. She turned the lights back on, throat already tight, and found the little Korra, her hair all tangled, a chain wrapped around one arm, manacles on her legs.

Asami lay back on her bed, holding that Korra, that hurting, tortured Korra against her, and wanted desperately for her real living wife to be home. Maybe going to sleep with a tiny doll to keep from crying was ridiculous, but Korra had taught her to embrace the ridiculousness in herself, and she was much better for it.

There was no restraining the tears the next day when she stepped out of her bedroom, and there, on their breakfast table, was a tiny little Korra in a tiny little wheelchair.

Asami clutched her arms tight, leaning against the door frame for a long moment as she stared at a reminder of one of the worst periods of her life. How afraid she’d been, how much her heart had burst for Korra but she’d known Korra was too lost herself to see.

But that wasn’t the only thing on the table. There was a box, too, bigger than the others.

Biting her lip, hesitant, Asami crossed the room. Korra had to know this would hurt, but she’d managed to turn the Equalist doll around. What could she possibly do, though, for this not to send her spiraling into memories of those lonely three years?

She opened the larger box, and inside it was a smaller box, like the others, and a bundle of letters.

She touched the box, and found it wrapped up, with a small padlock holding the twine together. She could easily cut it, but trusted Korra’s intentions, and instead pulled out the letters.

Asami sat, and opened the first one.

 

_Dear Asami,_

 

_I know I tell you I love you a lot, but that can never make up for all the time I didn’t tell you anything. Those months and years I was away, and we were both alone, and I couldn’t find the words for you. My life was hard, and I needed to put myself together… but you didn’t deserve the silence I gave you._

_In the three years I was gone, you wrote me 177 times. I wrote you once._

_I cannot make up for now for the things I couldn’t say then._

_But I can tell you 176 times how much you mean to me._

 

_Love,_

_Korra_

 

Asami was already crying before she opened the second letter. She forgot breakfast and was well into mid-day before she’d finished them all. How much time had Korra spent on this? She’d known about this trip for a while, but all these dolls, then this many letters…

Some of them were heartfelt, sharing memories she held dear.

Some were jokes, funny stories, usually at Korra’s own expense.

Some of them recounted how beautiful Asami was, how smart, how daring.

Not a small number of them made her groan with tortured puns.

Some were dreams of what she hoped they might do, in the future, in the coming months, as soon as Korra returned.

All of it, all of it was Korra, pure, heartfelt, almost as present as if she were reading them aloud to her.

Finally, the last letter had just a little more weight to it, and as she opened it up, out dropped a tiny, tiny key.

Her throat dry, her cheeks wet, and her stomach growling, Asami pulled out the box, and unlocked it. She pulled off the lid, saw the brief note, ‘Sorry for making you wait’, and pulled out the short-haired, confident, smiling Korra who had come back to her after three years apart.

Asami grinned, laughing at herself as she held the doll against her cheek. But then, she noticed, one more thing was left in the box, pulled it out, and grinned.

 

 

—

 

 

Korra strode wearily off the boat, the mission routine, successful, and already mostly forgotten as she scanned the pier for a certain dark-haired engineer that matched the doll in her hands. She’d gotten a few looks for it, some smiles, but really, there was just one reaction she was waiting for.

She spotted Asami halfway down, and leapt off the side, airbending her way over. The crowd parted enough for her to land.

Asami took a step toward her, holding up a little Korra doll, wearing a little backpack.

Korra lifted her little Asami, wearing a backpack too. She held the doll Asami’s hands out to hold the little Korra’s.

Asami snorted, moved her Korra doll the same way. As they got close Little magnets Korra had hidden in their hands made them 'click' together perfectly.

Then, she reached into her bag with her free hand, pulled out a flashlight, and shone it up underneath it. “You forgot the portal.”

Korra burst into laughter, then leaned forward to give her wife a kiss. “C’mon, Asami. Let’s get home.” She waved the doll at her. “Just the two of us.”

Asami waved her Korra doll back. “Sounds perfect.”

 

  
_Fanart courtesy of_[serawasnever  
  
  
](http://serawasnever.tumblr.com/post/174887894900/thanks-to-thewillowtree3-for-inviting-me-to-take)  
_Actual dolls by[bhcrafts](http://bhcrafts.tumblr.com/)_  
[  
](http://serawasnever.tumblr.com/post/174887894900/thanks-to-thewillowtree3-for-inviting-me-to-take)Dolls in action:[ https://vimeo.com/276158576](https://vimeo.com/276158576)

**Author's Note:**

> Written live on Google Docs, 6-4-17
> 
> Thanks @perpetual159 for the title!  
>  
> 
> [This story had a silly, heartwarming real-life epilogue. See it here! ](http://threehoursfromtroy.tumblr.com/post/162297435008/a-few-weeks-ago-i-wrote-a-short-korrasami-story)
> 
>  
> 
> [Visit me on my tumblr! Say hi! ](https://threehoursfromtroy.tumblr.com/)


End file.
